Edmonton public school trustees will get raises after October election

Trustees with Edmonton Public Schools voted to give themselves a raise Tuesday after a recommendation report said “it would appear that the Edmonton Public School Board Trustees are at the low end of the scale” when compared with other school boards in Alberta’s two largest cities.

The EPSB had said compared to the Calgary Board of Education, “all levels of the board are well below their levels.”

EPSB trustees aren’t paid salaries but instead are paid through annual honorariums, per diems, remuneration of incidental expenses and optional group benefit coverage. According to the EPSB, remuneration of trustees has been frozen since the 2010-2011 fiscal year.

Get breaking National news

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.

Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up

By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trustees with the EPSB have been receiving annual honorariums of $30,315 compared to $40,000 with the Edmonton Catholic School Board and $45,000 given to trustees with the Calgary Board of Education. Trustees voted to increase their annual honorariums to $36,523 and to tie future increases to external economic measures based on Statistics Canada’s consumer price index instead of relying on trustee recommendations.

“Through the research that we had commissioned, we saw that the Edmonton Public School Board trustees were in fact well below what our colleagues in the metros are being remunerated, in terms of an honorarium,” Michelle Draper, the EPSB’s acting chair, said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Through the research that we had commissioned, we saw that the Edmonton Public School Board trustees were in fact well below what our colleagues in the metros are being remunerated, in terms of an honorarium," Michelle Draper, the EPSB's acting chair, said.

The change to trustee remuneration will take effect once the new board is sworn in following the Oct. 16, 2017 election. Trustee remuneration will be reviewed annually.

Trustees are tasked with governing students’ education through school boards by communicating decisions it makes to students, parents and staff, setting educational goals for its jurisdictions, creating policies and standards for staff and students, adjudicating policy or decision appeal and lobbying governments on educational issues.

“Our schools are complex, our children are growing in numbers – we’re going to have almost 100,000 students – 11 new schools (are) opening, the role of a trustee brings different knowledge, experience, professional expertise… we wanted to make sure that we’re being fairly remunerated,” Draper said.

The EPSB has 95,642 students and has a $1.161-billion budget for 2016-17.